Precious Metal Recovery

In the recovery of gold and silver, steam-activated coconut shell carbon stands out for its superior effectiveness. Every ounce of gold recovered increases profits, underscored by the importance of selecting high-quality activated carbon.

ACSI’s steam-activated coconut shell carbons are made explicitly for precious metal recovery, using premium shells and advanced gasification technology. These carbons provide distinct advantages:

  • High Adsorption Capacity and Rate: They excel in capturing and recovering gold and silver, maximizing yield.
  • Durability and Regenerability: Their high hardness and low attrition resistance reduce carbon loss and support multiple regenerations, enhancing cost-efficiency.
  • Optimal Size Distribution: Design for peak performance in processing equipment, ensuring efficient operation.
  • Effective Desorption: Facilitates efficient metal recovery in elution circuits, optimizing recovery.
Activated carbon is crucial in extracting gold from ore by adsorbing it from solution. Three main methods utilize activated carbon differently to optimize
gold recovery:

Carbon-In-Column (CIC)

The gold cyanide solution flows through a series of fluidized bed columns in an up-flow configuration with the carbon-in-column operation. Fluidized bed carbon columns can process solutions containing as much as 2 to 3 wt% solids, thus making them well-suited for heap leach applications, which are often high in solids.

Carbon-In-Column (CIC)

Carbon-In-Pulp (CIP)

The gold extraction process involves finely grinding the ore using a carbon-in-pulp method, where gold is solubilized in tanks through cyanide leaching. Granular activated carbon is added to adsorb gold from the solution. Now loaded with gold, the carbon is separated from the slurry through coarse screening. Typically, a series of five or six agitated tanks are employed in a staged countercurrent manner, optimizing gold adsorption onto the carbon and ensuring a high recovery rate of gold. 

Carbon-In-Pulp (CIP)

Carbon-In-Leach (CIL)

The carbon-in-leach (CIL) process combines the leaching and carbon-in-pulp processes into one operation, eliminating the need for separate tanks. In this process, activated carbon is added directly to the leach tanks, which adsorbs gold almost simultaneously as it dissolves in the cyanide solution. This method is beneficial when the gold ore contains native carbon that competes with gold for adsorption. By using activated carbon that preferentially adsorbs gold over native carbon, gold recovery is enhanced, allowing for efficient extraction.

Carbon-In-Leach (CIL)
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